The Boston Globe reports that a man from Malden, Massachusetts, was awarded $1.5 million in a lawsuit against the maker of Ryobi table saws. Carlos Osorio seriously mangled fingers on one hand while operating a Ryobi saw several years ago.
The brunt of the lawsuit was that the manufacturer failed to include new "flesh detection" technology in their saw (you can learn more about this impressive safety innovation in this video).
I've written before about how dangerous table saws can be, although I continue to believe that they can be operated safely as long as the operator stays sober and follows instructions on safe use.
But that personal belief has not stopped the steady, bloody march to the emergency room. It's just possible that this lawsuit could result in table saw manufacturers feeling required to incorporate all available safety measures in their products. This would result in safer saws, to be sure, but also much more expensive saws.
For 15 years, I regularly used a saw similar to the one that injured Carlos Osorio. All of my fingers are still accounted for. But since selling the saw, I've found that I don't miss it so much. Most of the work I used to do on the table saw I now can handle just fine on a couple of safe, inexpensive and home-made saw guides. You might discover the same thing. You can find instructions for making a long saw guide here and for making a short guide here.
Photo © BarelyFitz @ flickr/Creative Commons
Comments
Any time, we must pay attention to the table saw safety.
Yeah, always pay attention while doing working on table saw. And I also think that its just unfair and disgusting for asking compensation.
So if a 13 year old child gets in a car and drives into a
semi head on and gets mamed, he can sue the automobile manugactureu because the car didn’t sense he was not old enough to operate a vehicle. This judge was off the wall. Everything I’ve read clearly points out that this man was not qualified to operate a table saw, why wasn’t the employer held liable for putting an unqualified person on the saw to begin with?
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